I said, “Well, there’s only one thing to do. Go over and make another crack at it. We’re in so deep now we’ve got to start moving. We can’t do anything else. Here, I m going to put through a telephone call.”
I grabbed up the telephone and called the number of my rooming-house. A maid answered the phone and I said, “Let me speak to Mrs. Eldridge, please.”
After a while I heard Mrs. Eldridge’s voice, that peculiar, cynical voice which I’d know anywhere. I said, “This is Donald. I wonder if you’d mind asking my cousin to come to the telephone. I wouldn’t bother you, only it’s important.”
Mrs. Eldridge said acidly, “Your cousin, Donald turned out to be Marian Dunton, a witness who was wanted by the police in connection with a murder case. They took her away three hours ago. I think they’re looking for you now. If you’re going to use my rooming-house as—”
I slammed the receiver back into its cradle.
Bertha Cool looked at me and said, sweetly — too damn sweetly — “Your cousin, Donny boy?”
I said, “Just a friend. I passed her off as my cousin.”
“That number you called was the number of your rooming-house.”
“I know,” I said.
Bertha Cool stood staring at me. Her eyes narrowed until they were mere glittering slits. “Humph,” she said at length, and then, after a moment, added, “ I’ll say they fall for you. Come on, lover. We’re going places. It may not be the wisest thing to do, but at least it’s something to do. We may be here all day without getting a call. There’s one thing you didn’t figure.”